Transit needs new organizational structure: Report

Hiring five more staff and imposing a new organizational structure are among the steps needed to improve operations at Sudbury Transit, city councillors will hear tonight.

The recommendations are part of a report prepared by consultants IBI Group, an international firm that specializes in, among other things, urban planning and land servicing.

IBI won the contract to conduct an operational review of Sudbury Transit in light of a planned move to a new transit facility on Lorne Street.

Councillors will hear the report tonight at a meeting of the city's operations committee.

The operational review was also spurred by an audit of its operations by city auditor Brian Bigger. That review revealed that, among other issues, transit management continued to renew contracts with 1211250 Ontario Inc., which operated the transit kiosk, the transit café and the airport café, despite the fact its debt with the city continued to grow year after year.

The city renewed its contract with the numbered company June 1, 2004, when it owed $262,206.

That contract ended January 31, 2006, at which point the company owed the city $340,845. The city then entered into a year-to-year contract with the company for three years.

The company owed $333,962, $504,252 and $824,025 respectively from 2007 to 2009. The contract was terminated Sept. 4, 2009, with the company still owing the city $866,537. At its peak, the company owed the city more than $1 million.

Bigger said management did not administer the contract according to its terms. The contract required that cash from all ticket sales be reconciled by the 25th day of each month and payment for these tickets be made to the city by the fifth day of each month, prior to the delivery of additional tickets; however, management repeatedly advanced tickets to the company without first obtaining payment for the previously advanced tickets.

In 2004, $22,500 of duplicate management fees were paid, and additional overpayments totalled $2,166 for invoices dated between January 2005 and January 2008.

And between January 2004 and September 2009, the majority of kiosk management fees (70 per cent) were paid personally to the director of the company, Tony Sharma.

The director was paid $533,506.

Additionally, where there was space to indicate the name of the person to whom the cheque should be made payable, the name Zio's Cafe (owned and operated by the director of the numbered company) was crossed out by hand and in handwriting it was indicated that the cheque should be made payable to one of the directors of the company personally.

These cheques were even deposited directly into a personal bank account, rather than an account for the company. This meant the director received the benefit of the contract, rather than the contracting party.

The OPP is currently investing those transactions, after a request from Greater Sudbury Police.

The IBI review concluded that, compared to transit systems in other cities, Sudbury Transit is generally performing well and offers good bang for the buck.

Transit staff “employs some innovative operating practices to minimize operating costs,” according to the report's executive summary.

Transit generates more revenue per driver than most cities, the report found, reflected in the fact the Sudbury Transit doesn't have a spareboard – a list of drivers who are on call in case of illness or other issues.

IBI also found that managers have too many responsibilities to do their core jobs properly. It recommends reorganizing the department to focus on administration and operations, as well as on maintaining its fleet of vehicles and its facilities.

“Additional resources are required in the areas of operations, vehicle maintenance and finance,” IBI wrote. “Extensive and routine clerical functions in the operations section are being handled by supervisory staff which detracts from their ability to fulfil their core responsibilities.”

The five new staff would free up time for core managers to do their jobs, IBI concluded. It also calls for more money for staff training, and more resources for transit as it adopts the wide-ranging changes the report recommends.

Also needed is improved on-road supervision of the transit system to minimize risk to passengers and staff in case of accident, and to better monitor how well transit meets customer needs.

It also recommends more frequent maintenance work on city buses, and a comprehensive system to monitor such things as how often buses are on time, how much revenue is being generated on bus routes each night and the cost of maintaining each bus to keep it on the road.

The report also calls for biannual reports on how well transit is performing, and major operational reviews to be conducted every five years.

- Files from Arron Pickard

Posted by Arron Pickard